Archive for June, 2014

It’s a rarity in these times of consulting rock-star winemakers that someone would actually stay at a single wine producer for any length of time. But that’s exactly what Mark Lyon did – for 35 years! Mark graduated with a B.S. in Fermentation Science from the University of California at Davis in 1978 and was hired by Sebastiani Vineyards the following year, where he continues to run the winemaking program.

Sebastiani’s first century in Sonoma winemaking began when Samuele emigrated from the Tuscany region of Italy in 1895 and started Sebastiani nine years later. The winery was the only one in Sonoma County to continue operations through Prohibition, making a small amount of sacramental and medicinal wines.

Shortly after Samuele’s death in 1944, his son, August, and August’s wife Sylvia purchased the winery from the estate and began the expansion of the facilities and the product line, adding new varietal wines and proprietary blends. When August died in 1980, Sylvia and their children, Sam, Don and Mary Ann, assumed management of the company. Sam stayed until 1986, when he left Sebastiani to start his own winery. In 2001, the family sold the winery to Constellation Brands, whereupon Don Sebastani left to devote more time to his own brand, which he started with brother-in-law Roy Cecchetti in 1985.

When Bill Foley purchased Sebastiani in 2008, he immediately undertook a program to boost wine quality and raise the winery’s image. Working closely with long-time winemaker Mark Lyon and the viticultural team, they lowered production, restricted yields, acquired more new barrels and winemaking equipment, revamped farming protocols and acquired additional vineyards to guarantee consistent and superior fruit sourcing.

Join us as we talk with winemaker Mark Lyon about Sebastani’s history and legacy, and why he still enjoys working for this iconic label.

The Louis Jadot name, as well as its readily identifiable label should be very familiar, even to casual wine lovers. Established by Louis Henry Denis Jadot in 1859 in the Burgundy region of France, Maison Louis Jadot has grown over the past 150 years to own 280 acres of the Côte d’Or’s most prestigious Premier and Grand Cru plots.

In 2010, chief winemaker Jacques Lardière retired after 42 years with Louis Jadot. Taking over the reins from Monsieur Lardière, winemaker Frédéric Barnier has been responsible for the entire winemaking team of Maison Louis Jadot since 2010.

Join us as we talk with Technical Director Frédéric Barnier about the challenges he’s faced, including the past few “short” vintages in Burgundy, current pricing, and the premox issue.

We’re on to another of the seminars from the 2014 World of Pinot Noir. This one had something of a unique twist – combining Hollywood and wine…or Vine, in this case.

The focus here was to talk about wine themes in film by honoring two wine movies, Sideways and Somm. This was also the 10th anniversary of the release of Sideways, a movie that ‘launched a thousand Pinots,’ and allegedly put the brakes to Merlot’s ascendancy.

Moderated by Sunset Magazine’s wine editor, Sara Schneider, the panel included Hitching Post’s Frank Ostini and tasting room whiz Chris Burroughs representing Sideways, and sommeliers Brian McClintic and Dlynn Proctor featured in the movie Somm that chronicled their efforts to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier exam. Of course, this wasn’t confined to just talking, as each of the panelists were also expected to identify several wines blind to demonstrate their respective wine prowess. L’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace!

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GrapeRadio is a wine talk show. Show topics cover issues such as the enjoyment of wine, wine news and industry trends - the hallmark of the show is interviews with world class guest (winemakers, vineyards owners, wine retail / wholesale leaders, restaurateurs and sommeliers). The scope of the show is international so expect to hear many guests from around the world.

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